1. In year 2008, Selangor contributed the highest percentage share of the national GDP with 22.1 per cent, followed by WP Kuala Lumpur (13.9 per cent), Johor (9.5 per cent), Sarawak (9.4 per cent) and Pulau Pinang (8.8 per cent). In general, the five states which contributed the most to the national GDP remained unchanged as shown in Chart 1.

Chart 1: Percentage Share by State at Constant Price 2000 Year 2008

2. The highest growth of GDP in 2008 was recorded by Selangor at 8.3 per cent and it was stimulated by a double digit growth in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in which, the latter was highly driven by manufacture of motor vehicles and transport equipment. As for Sabah, the state recorded the second highest growth with 7.8 per cent which was driven by the encouraging performance of crude oil production (see Chart 2).

Chart 2: GDP Growth by State at Constant Price 2000 Year 2008

3. The economic performance of WP Kuala Lumpur narrowed down to 5.9 per cent as compared with the growth of previous year at 9.3 per cent. In contrast, Pahang recorded a strong growth of 6.3 per cent in 2008 as compared to previous year of 2.7 per cent. This was due to improvement in agriculture and manufacturing sectors which recorded a growth of 4.2 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively. Perak and Pulau Pinang recorded the growth of 5.9 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively. These states posted growth above the national GDP (4.6 per cent).

4. Services sector was the main contributor to the GDP of WP Kuala Lumpur (88.9 per cent), Kelantan (73.2 per cent), WP Labuan (74.3 per cent), Perak (64.2 per cent), Selangor (56.1 per cent) and Perlis (55.1 per cent). For those states, contribution of services sector was higher than the national level (55.0 per cent).

5. The contribution of manufacturing sector was more dominant in Pulau Pinang with 53.6 per cent, Negeri Sembilan (50.9 per cent) and Melaka (47.9 per cent) albeit the decrease in its share in the previous year. The economic structures for these states were also led by services sector (42.2 per cent, 40.3 per cent and 44.7 per cent respectively) with both sectors registered value more than 90.0 per cent to their GDP. The same scenario can be observed for WP Kuala Lumpur (95.7 per cent), WP Labuan (94.4 per cent) and Selangor (90.4 per cent).

6. From the sector point of view, Selangor and WP Kuala Lumpur continued to be the main impetus to the services sector in Malaysia with the combined contribution of 46.8 per cent. In 2008, Selangor registered the highest value added with RM 65.5 billion which was previously led by WP Kuala Lumpur. The decline in WP Kuala Lumpur was mainly due to the contraction in stock trading market which continued giving a significant impact to the stock brokerage activity. Hence, it slowed the growth of the intermediation services in this state.

7. Johor and Pulau Pinang which contributed 8.9 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively to the total of services sector in Malaysia posted a moderate growth in this sector as compared with the previous year. In addition, services sector in Terengganu and Perlis also registered slower pace in 2008.

8. Selangor was the highest contributor for the manufacturing sector, followed by Pulau Pinang and Johor. The share of these states were 56.5 per cent from the overall value added. As for Selangor, the growth of manufacturing sector strengthened to 4.8 per cent as compared with 1.4 per cent in 2007. This was mainly attributable to the improvement in sub sector of motor vehicles and transport equipment. Meanwhile, manufacturing sector in Johor contracted to 4.6 per cent and Kedah 11.1 per cent. The negative growth in both states mainly was due to the decline in electrical and electronic sub sector.

9. Agricultural sector was mainly dominated by Sabah and Sarawak with the combined share of 39.4 per cent of the national value added of 2008. Sabah registered a negative growth of 1.8 per cent due to the decline in forestry and logging sub sector. Johor and Pahang, which were also significant contributors in agricultural sector, grew 13.6 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively in 2008 as against negative growth in previous year. The growth was supported by the rebound in the production of oil palm sub sector. However, agricultural sector in Perlis recorded significant drop which was due to negative growth in marine fisheries.

10. In the construction sector, the performance of Selangor (1.3 per cent), WP Kuala Lumpur (5.5 per cent) and Johor (-1.6 per cent) portrayed the overall scenario of construction sector at national level (2.1 per cent). These three states dominated this sector with Selangor contributed 37.5 per cent, WP Kuala Lumpur 16.0 per cent and Johor 9.9 per cent.